Congressman and Former Sniper Cory Mills Identifies Security Failures at Trump Rally

In the wake of the recent shooting at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Republican Representative and former sniper Cory Mills has highlighted significant security failures that could have had fatal consequences. Speaking to CNN, Mills provided a detailed analysis of the lapses and called for a thorough investigation.

“When we go up as a counter sniper, we put together what we call range fans. For our range card, we usually keep it right next to us. It’s an overlay of the area, usually a satellite image, and it has our 100-yard line or 200-yard line or 300-yard line, and we identify the buildings in the areas for potential threat in those, so that when you do identify a threat, you don’t have to actually mill out, which is to determine the distance of that actual target. You have it within your range. Then you can quickly glance down and say roughly 200 and you can dial your elevation, look at your windage, make your call, and then fire your shot,” Mills explained.

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Mills emphasized the capabilities of standard rifles and the accuracy achievable by even basic models. “At 230 yards, which is what this is being estimated by, we have to bear in mind something an AR-15 or any rifle of that matter has what they call minutes of angle, which means what the capability of the rifle is. A standard rifle, which is a basic rifle’s capabilities, is one MOA, which means for every 100 yards is one-inch grouping capabilities. You’re talking about that at 230 yards. The average shooter could actually point at a target, fire 5 to 6 rounds, and somewhere within that group would be about a 2.3-inch grouping at 230 yards.”

Highlighting the proximity and the danger posed by the shooter, Mills remarked, “The average life-size man target is 20 inches shoulder to shoulder, 40 inches waist to head. President Trump obviously is a much larger guy. He’s a much taller guy. So it is by miracle and divine intervention that he is not killed today. And so there was a failure in the breach of security. I will identify that immediately.”

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Mills also criticized the lack of elevated security positions. “We always take the high ground for your overwatch positions. You always look at what the ability is to see the crowd so that you can mitigate threats at an elevated position. One of the reasons why you look at high angle fire shooting is also the direction and trajectory of the bullet itself. It’s not like shooting at a flat trajectory where you have over-penetration. You can get other individuals. This is going to eventually just hit into the ground.”

He pointed out a critical oversight in the security arrangements. “You’re talking about 230 yards, which is nothing for a shot adjacent to the stage of the president. And there was no one on that building, no one even standing next to the building to ensure there’s no access to the building.”

In conclusion, Mills acknowledged the efforts of the Secret Service and counter-sniper teams but stressed the severity of the security breach. “I applaud again what the Secret Service detail had done, what the counter-sniper team has done. But I will tell you, this is a massive security breach in my opinion.”

Mills welcomed the House Speaker’s decision to investigate the incident. “I’m glad that the Speaker is going to do an investigation on this because I think that it’s warranted.”